Health News. Lots of resources and information

This is the way to reduce weight effectively and quickly. Once the ideal weight is reached it will be easier to maintain because as well as cutting out forbidden foods this diet retrains the appetite and palate to enjoy healthy foods.

Because calorie count is reduced to 1,400 calories each day, this diet should only be followed for fourteen days.

Breakfast: 0.5 grapefruit or glass unsweetened fruit juice 1 egg (not fried) or lean meat 1 piece wholemeal toast thin spread margarine or butter

coffee or tea (no sugar but artificial sweetener acceptable)

Lunch: lOOg lean meat or poultry or fish (not fried) fresh cooked vegetables or salad 1 piece wholemeal bread 1 fruit in season coffee or tea (no sugar)

Dinner: lOOg lean meat or poultry or fish fresh cooked vegetables

mixed salad (lemon or low-calorie dressing only) cheese (50g) 1 fruit in season coffee or tea (no sugar)

NB: No more than .25 skimmed milk each day. As much water or no-calorie drink as you like. No alcohol.

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Although the problems of the male-menopause are essentially emotional this does not mean the externals or the wellbeing of the body should be ignored in the pursuit of survival and improvement of quality of life. Not only does a fit man survive the rigours better than an unfit one but a healthy and groomed man goes on to better things as he projects his own best image, one that is neither frayed at the edges nor worn out.

This does not mean you have to use expensive face creams, wear designer label colognes and go jogging for an hour each day. It is more a matter of commonsense, some careful grooming based on cleanliness, sensible eating patterns and a few exercises to keep the body in trim. And a health check-up.

It takes only the smallest amount of time and effort to achieve the best. As aging begins to take its inevitable toll why not age decently rather than decrepitly? There is nothing wrong about a man taking care of the way he looks — and there is everything to be gained by his doing so. Men who arrive in their forties looking good do so only because in the twenties and thirties they took care of how they looked. Men who look good in their fifties do so because in their forties they took extra care and no matter the pressures they were under never let themselves go to the dogs. Whatever his age it is never too late for a man to start caring for himself. All he needs are the guidelines and a little effort.

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The homosexual relationships can turn out to be what they have always subconsciously sought and if their homosexuality is more than a passing phase for experiment or in answer to an occasional urge for bi-sexuality, then it can lead to the establishing of a secret life: a heterosexual life with a public face and a homosexual life in the shadows. The results can further complicate their already complex and shaky emotional state or, because their inherent homosexuality is no longer latent, they may take all known risks to lay foundations for a changed pattern of life. Many men come out of the gay closet because of M-M.

‘When I found he was sleeping with a guy of twenty-four I was more relieved than shocked. At least it was a man. I could handle that. Had he been sleeping with a woman I would have doubted my own sexuality.’

Cristina, forty-two, divorcee, New York.

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When a menopausal man changes wife, his wife falls usually into one of two categories. Either she is young and attractive or she is ambitious with a strong personality.

Younger wives are usually sexy, probably more than ten years younger than the husband. Apart from a revived sex life they bring him the chance of being reborn, a young family, renewed pride (at having the young wife) and, as important, a wife who will cushion his life as she looks after him.

Strong wives are wives with push, ambition and loads of personality. Often they are highly attractive too. There may be little age difference between husband and wife and these are wives who see the unfulfilled potential of the husband’s work and so inject into him the extra ambition he needs to get ahead, for more goals in life. They are supportive and whenever they can will try to further his career and promotion by participating in the social aspects of his worklife.

Once an M-M man has decided on packing his bags and leaving the marital home — he is the one who leaves — there is not much a wife can do. The options are in his hands.

Should she love him still and want him back, or, as is likely, she wants him back if only to make him face up to his responsibilities (like bringing up the children), the only course is to hope he comes to his senses and returns. Any action she takes is likely to alienate him further and disturb her even more.

If the marriage is stale and she does not mind him leaving, probably on the terms she dictates, then once the recriminations are over a friendship can be made out of the debris.

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The woman’s menopause, her climacteric, is due purely to dramatic, internal change (although such a change invariably carries emotional side effects with it too). Medically, this menopause is defined as the cessation of menstruation brought on by the physiological failure of ovarian function due to hormonal changes caused by aging.

Throughout adolescence and the years of development, a woman’s hormones, oestrogen and progesterone, affect her sexuality, appearance and temperament. After puberty their main role is to cause the thickening of the womb’s lining each month in preparation for pregnancy which, if conception does not occur, leads to menstruation. However as she enters her fifties the production of oestrogen slows down and eventually ceases altogether. When it does she loses her reproductive powers and can no longer bear children. Menstruation ceases permanently. This menopause can take place over as long as five years.

Not all women experience the change the same way with exactly the same symptoms but for most this is an uncomfortable and traumatic time. Emotionally they can become irritable, depressed, weepy, forgetful, apprehensive and nervous or sexually demanding (similar symptoms can affect men during M-M). Physically they may suffer hot flushes and excessive perspiration. Breasts can shrink, hair become thinner, bones weaken and occasionally intercourse becomes uncomfortable due to loss of secretion. Sometimes there is a decrease in sexual responsiveness.

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